I have been writing about how ignorant the Muslims (especially Muslims of the sub-continent) are. A couple of days ago I saw this program and it jolted me to my very core. It was Front Line with Kamran Shahid recorded on 10th of August 2011. It was as if I was living the period of ignorance (in Arabia) before the advent of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

The strangest fact in all this is that, none of the ‘Ulema authority’ (the Jamias or Madrassas or even the Shariat court) condemned this act and as the bureau chief of the locality told, lots of others are involved in these acts while the society lets them do it quietly. The people of Pakistan must wake up and study their religion for their own sake and well being. Otherwise, even a Messiah wouldn’t be able to help them.

Like this:

I am a frequent reader of Express tribune blogs, where I come across interesting viewpoints and mindsets. As people who have read my posts may have noticed that most of my posts are pro-Islamic yet anti-clergy. The reason for which is the fact that I believe the clergymen in practice today are steering majority of the nation (who follows them) in a dark ditch of ignorance. Then I came across this post on Express tribune blogs which was in agreement with what I have been telling my fellow Muslims about how these clergymen distort religious texts to gain their own benefits / congregation.

Naturally, I was expecting criticism to this by some hardline rightist, but it was shocking to see yet another viewpoint towards this issue. The author claims, it is better to ignore such things and move on. Many will agree and have taken up this viewpoint towards the distortion of Holy scriptures and religious theories. It is this attitude towards religion that is responsible for where our nation stands today both socially and economically. We allow these self-proclaimed scholars to continue professing ‘what they think is Islam’, these scholars know that no one will challenge their preaching, because as a matter of fact, people either don’t have time to look up their references or, as in this case, people don’t really care.

Today, we speak of accountability, in every aspect of life. Then why should we leave these clergymen unaccountable for what they preach? I can understand if religion is not a priority for many, but as I have said before, religion was the central entity towards development and disaster for every civilization. Take any example, Egyptians, Mayans, Aztecs, Greeks or Romans. Their rise and fall revolved around their religious beliefs whatever they may be! Muslims are no different (if you think of Muslims as a civilization).

If we ignore this (what may seem as a small) issue today, we will ignore other issues, that might be of importance tomorrow. In-fact, many did. Hence, it is time we show interest in matters of religion and try to understand, at least the important issues for ourselves, because we aren’t going to reach anywhere by following these self-proclaimed clerics neither are we going to achieve peace by completely ignoring issues related to our belief.

Yes, it happens nowhere else, but Pakistan. I was shocked and disgusted at the news myself, how can one dub Osama bin Laden a martyr? Have Pakistanis learned nothing yet? Why is the clergy hell-bent on deteriorating Pakistan’s (already maligned) image? I wonder who votes for these pathetic people.

Osama Bin Laden, the man who has the blood of millions including Muslims (even Pakistanis) on his hands. These self-proclaimed clerics who take half of their aid from the US are preaching the infamous ‘jihad’ against it proclaiming Bin Laden was a martyr!
Utter nonsense.

Did they miss how US flew into to Pakistan (completely paralyzing its defenses) and took Osama away in less than 24 hours? What happened, whether it is another conspiracy or not, that’s a different story. But, it goes to show that US can do anything, anywhere in Pakistani territory on its will and Pakistanis can’t do anything about it. This being the second time after the release of Raymond Davis, the infamous American terrorist.

Pakistan is a beggar to the US. It survives because of its aid, all major investments in Pakistan are based in the West. Yet, somehow these delusional beings want the country to stand up against the US? It is stupid but what else can we expect from these extremists, who reads the likes of Maududi, the father of hypocrites. Why is the nation blind, why do they fail to see that the biggest threat is dwelling within us, within our land and not coming from outside.

If this ignorance continues within Pakistan and its people, it is no doubt an invitation to God’s wrath and it is not far-fetched that America will be the bearer of it. These ignorant beings will meet the same shameful, painful and merciless end that Bin Laden met with. Osama Bin Laden, is nothing but a dead man, I might not even use the word man for him, he’s a dead cowardly beast.

Martyr heh!, I bet these self-proclaimed clerics don’t even know the meaning of the word martyr.

On another occasion the Prophet (peace be upon him) is recorded saying:

Seeking knowledge is an obligation upon every Muslim (man & woman).

Many ‘hard-line’ Muslims have a common yet bizarre perspective to these sayings. A few days ago a group of people from the mosque (تبلیغی جماعت) came to my house to ‘preach’. These are the people who go house to house and meet with people and invite them to mosque and charities. One of them referenced the first saying and said, “You know, the Prophet was talking about Islamic knowledge, the spiritual knowledge and he emphasized so much as to ask the Muslims to travel to China at that time to seek knowledge, the science is just for skills, it isn’t real knowledge”. I respectfully disagreed with him and asked, “But, Islam at that time was only confined to Arabia and some eastern parts of Africa. What Islamic / ‘spiritual’ knowledge was to be gained in China at that time?” To which he had no answer, only to tell me that I have less religious knowledge and walk away.

After this (rather insignificant incident) I had forgotten about it, until one day while watching a documentary (Engineering an empire) on the History channel I was literally amazed at what I saw. It was a documentary about China and how over time it was engineered by its emperors. According to it, Chinese were one of the first astronomers, chemists, mathematicians and engineers. They were the first to modernize naval warfare. They put mercury and other elements to various tests and discovered many properties that the world had never seen. They were on their way towards inventing rockets and torpedoes. They constructed the great wall, which to this day, stands as a monument to human engineering.

While at that time (during the 6th century) Arabia was in the age of darkness, ignorance ruled hearts and minds of the Arabs. But China at the same time was advancing intellectually, socially and technologically. The vision of the Prophet(peace be upon him) was so vast, his sense of urgency was spot on, He must have known what is happening in China (at that time). Ofcourse at that time, journey to China was a life long experience, which goes to show how much importance knowledge had in the eyes of the Prophet (peace be upon him).

It is sad how Muslims today have ‘limited’ the great vision of the Prophet (peace be upon him), by viewing his sayings in a perspective which (more often) doesn’t even make sense. It was this knowledge & technology which has changed the world to what we know today. It was this knowledge which has helped nation progress and overcome their rivals. It is this knowledge which has made nations like United States and China, world leaders. It was this knowledge that the Prophet (peace be upon him) asked Muslims to seek 1,400 years ago.

A few days ago, I was watching a recorded program called “Faisla aapka” recorded on 8th January 2011 by Samaa News. The topic was tolerance, two participants of religious views and two participants of liberal views were invited to debate on the after math of the incident of 4th January 2011. One of the clerics while defending blasphemy law justifies it from the Holy Qura’an quoting verses from Chapter 33 (Surah Al-Ahzaab).

I was shocked to see that Mr. Paracha (from one of the politico-religious parties) was so confident when he was distorting the verses and the audience was applauding him for that, while the show host and the other cleric (from Sunni Tehrik) was backing him up referring to Chapter 9 of the Holy Qura’an. Let me explain to you what Mr. Paracha was referring to from the Holy Qura’an:

[33:56] Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet. O ye who believe! you also should invoke blessings on him and salute him with the salutation of peace.

[33:57] Verily, those who malign Allah and His Messenger — Allah has cursed them in this world and in the Hereafter, and has prepared for them an abasing punishment.

[33:58] And those who malign believing men and believing women for what they have not earned shall bear the guilt of a calumny and a manifest sin.

[33:59] O Prophet! tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women of the believers that they should draw close to them portions of their loose outer coverings. That is nearer that they may thus be distinguished and not molested. And Allah is Most Forgiving, Merciful.

[33:60] If the hypocrites, and those in whose heart is a disease, and those who cause agitation in the city, desist not, We shall surely give thee authority over them; then they will not dwell therein as thy neighbors, save for a little while.

[33:61] Then they will be accursed. Wherever they are found, they will be seized, and cut into pieces.

— Surah Al Ahzaab

As you can see here, clearly Mr. Paracha is deceiving the crowd and imposing his views of the Qura’an. What he does is, read the first two verses and then joins verse 61 with verses 57 and 58, which ofcourse changes the entire context of the message. Allah (God almighty) is clearly saying that He alone is the one to punish those who malign Allah and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). To understand the rest of the argument one must know the pretext of this chapter(Surah Al Ahzaab). It deals with the vicissitudes through which Islam had to pass during the early years of the Prophet (peace be upon him) in Medina. The Jews of the surrounding tribes gave a hard time to the Muslims, even those tribesmen who were included in the pact of Medina didn’t leave any opportunity to create mischief. Those are being referred to as hypocrites. The main weapon in their armory against Islam, was spreading of false news to friendly tribes. This was an act of treason not blasphemy, the punishment for treason was capital punishment.

Now let us see what is written in Chapter 9 (Al-Taubah) to which the second cleric is referring to.

[9:12] Will you not fight a people who have broken their oaths, and who plotted to turn out the Messenger, and they were the first to commence hostilities against you? Do you fear them? Nay, Allah is most worthy that you should fear Him, if you are believers.

[9:13] Fight them, that Allah may punish them at your hands, and humiliate them, and help you to victory over them, and relieve the minds of a people who believe;

— Surah Al Taubah

Again, if viewed in context of the verse number 12, it makes total sense. It isn’t directed towards blasphemers, it is clearly saying about those who break their, oaths, these were the Jewish tribes which were included in the pact of Medina. No where in the above two verses does Allah (God almighty) asks the Prophet (peace be upon him) to kill any blasphemer. None of the Muslims try to research the references these clerics give out. This points out to two things, Muslims lack knowledge of the Holy Qura’an and Islamic History and two, they blindly follow what the mullah tells them. It was for times like these the Prophet (peace be upon him) predicted.

“There will be a decline in religious faith and nothing would be left of Islam except its name and nothing would be left of the Holy Qura’an except its text. Mosques though full of worshipers will be empty of guidance. The religious scholars will be the worst creation under the canopy of Heaven”.

“There will be a decline in religious faith and nothing would be left of Islam except its name and nothing would be left of the Holy Qura’an except its text. Mosques though full of worshipers will be empty of guidance. The religious scholars will be the worst creation under the canopy of Heaven”.

(Mishkat-ul Masabih, p.88 & Kanaz-ul Ummal, vol.6 p.43).

It is true, today Muslim clerics are the worst creation on the face of earth. Their interpretation of Islam has completely mutilated the face of what should be a humanitarian and peaceful religion. The recent blasphemy row is an example, which shows what heights of stupidity and ignorance can be achieved by such (so-called) holy men. Blasphemy is just one example, the Muslim clergy has brought in so many distortions and misinterpretations, it is virtually impossible for an average Muslim to practice his/her religion.

The sole purpose of these deformities is to gain political power. Since religion first came to the Israelites, it has been exploited, and used as a tool for the interests of a certain individual or a group. Among other religions, the Church of medieval times is a prime example. Christianity has come a long way and made various changes in its doctrine to adhere the changes of the modern political system.

While Islam was destined to be a consistent religion, over time changes were introduced by different scholars, to gain superiority over other Muslims going so far as to dubbing them apostates and liable to be killed. Their illiterate congregation follows their lead. The demolition of Islam is imminent if Muslims continue to be influenced by these (so-called holy) men. It is these clerics who are blaspheming against the teachings of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and Islam. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) prophesied about these clerics:

“A time will come when religious scholars will be the worst creatures on earth, evil will erupt from them, and it will return back in them”

It has been more than two and a half years since ‘Zardari regime’ was elected to administer Pakistan, it is no surprise that Pakistani economy has been completely ruined within that time. While the nation is getting poorer every passing day, the leaders are getting richer and richer. Governance is wrecked, accountability is deficient and law isn’t observed anymore. All this is happening while the nation hasn’t fully recovered from the devastating flood.

It is not completely the fault of our leaders though, they are doing their part by looting the treasures and blessing their closed ones. This nation is more responsible for its own misery. People of Pakistan are completely insensitive and ignorant. The ignorance comes partly from illiteracy, more than half of the population in Pakistan are illiterate. That in turn gives rise to corruption. Even the smallest office clerk now works on bribes, adulteration is wide-spread, nothing is fresh not even air and fake medicine is sold openly around the country. Most worryingly, this nation is growing inconsiderate of what is happening around them.

Just yesterday I got a chance to hear one of the ‘upcoming’ politicians from Sindh, I was shocked to see her confidence. With such bravery she was ‘trying to convince’ the anchor about the appointments in provincial assembly by the government.

It is very shocking to see that the government is still in tact after such acts came to light. The story doesn’t end here, PIA, Pak Steel and many more public industries owned by the government have the same stories while the people of Pakistan say they are being wronged. Why shouldn’t they be?

Aren’t they the ones who brought these clowns in the first place? now they complain? Pakistanis totally deserve to be lead by a leader who encompasses all the values the nation bears. Corrupt, feudal, ignorant and illiterate. How ironic is it that the President of Pakistan contains all the qualities which are found in the nation.

Until and unless Pakistanis can turn their fate, by embracing honesty and practicing their moral values in their daily life, they deserve to have leaders the likes of which they have now.